An evaluation study involving both trial and control schools was conducted over the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 school years by Dr. Angela Jaggar (New York University) and Professor Peter Hill (University of Melbourne). The evaluation study was conducted with ten trial schools in inner-city Boston, five trial schools and four control schools in the Bronx, New York, and six trial schools in Elgin, Illinois. In 1999, a further eight schools in Boston and the Bronx joined the project, and complete data were obtained from a total of 4,989 students in Kindergarten and Grade 1. The studied showed statistically significant rates of progress for students in the trial schools as measured by posttest scores.

In 2003, Jonathan Supovitz of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania, conducted an independent examination of Hill and Jaggar’s report. The review confirmed that the study used a sound research design and appropriate statistical methods and called it “a solid piece of research that provides important evidence of the effectiveness of the program on student reading performance.”

Bookshop External Analysis
Russell Cole and Jonathan Supovitz
University of PennsylvaniaDownload as PDF

This study, conducted between 2002-2005, compared achievement on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests (FCAT) between students in six schools using the Bookshop Reading program in Southern Florida and a sample of 71 similar non-Bookshop schools in the same region. Data showed that the schools using Bookshop decreased the proportion of students scoring in Level 1 by 16.67%, while the matched set of schools decreased their Level 1 proportions by only 9.51% in the same period. In addition, the Bookshop schools raised the proportion of students scoring Level 3 or above by 15.93%, while the matched schools raised this proportion by 9.08% during the same 2002-2005 period. Graphed results can be seen below.

This study, conducted in 2010, examined the impact of the Bookshop Reading program that was implemented in the New Haven, Connecticut, school district in Grades K-3. Sixteen schools were matched based upon prior achievement and student demographics to produce eight pairs, with one school from each pair randomly assigned to implement the Bookshop program. Impacts were estimated for students at the end of third grade. The study found that students who participated in the Bookshop program made gains on the Connecticut Mastery test (CMT) in 3rd grade that were 21 to 27% larger than those of students in the comparison group. Graphed results can be seen below.

In studies in Florida and Connecticut, the percentage of student at or above proficiency INCREASED in Bookshop schools.

In the same studies, the percentage of at-risk student DECREASED in Bookshop schools.

Studies at individual Bookshop schools also have shown dramatic improvement in test scores. Both the Nathan Hale School in New Haven, Connecticut, and P.S. 34 in Queens, New York, significantly reduced the percentage of Grade 3 students below state standard proficiency and increased the percentage of Grade 3 students at or above proficiency.